Marty+JimenezLBF

Executive Summary
The initial phase of the survey data analysis was a quick scan of the characteristics described in both fun and boring learning experiences. The idea was to find commonalities within each category and apply common descriptive tags derived from the individual survey entries. After compiling a list of common descriptors for each category (fun and boring), survey results were sorted into a variety of filters based on the age and gender. As of Saturday, September 20, 42% of those surveyed were male and 58% were female. Respondents raged in age from 8 to 72 (age during the time in which the learning experiences took place. However, analysis of the data indicates a universal consensus as to what constitutes a "fun" or "boring" learning experience. The only noticeable difference between younger respondents and older respondents was the manor in which they described their experiences. Older respondents tended to be more long-winded about their experiences (whether boring or fun) while younger respondents were blunt and straightforward. Significant differences were apparent in the learner expectations for fun and boring experiences. For example, fun learning experiences also involved more opportunities for moving around, performing, and using critical thinking skills. The biggest statistical difference seen between fun and boring learning experiences showed that fun experiences had some sort of interaction (either with other learners or interaction with the instructor). The data show that 68% of respondents indicated a definite expectation of interaction among learners during a fun learning experience as opposed only 7% during a boring experience. It should be noted that the majority of respondents (roughly 72%) had a college education or higher. Another factor to be taken into consideration is that many of these surveys were likely completed by classroom teachers who may have very different ideas as to what educational content is relevant or meaningful.

What Makes Learning Boring?
Common descriptions used for boring learning experiences: >
 * 1) **Instruction required participants to sit still most (if not all) of the time.** Sitting still during a learning experience appeared frequently in the survey results describing boring learning experiences. For example, Jordan T. stated "sitting for most of the day was hard and it's boring to sit that long and test. Maybe if they only had us test half a day, even if it meant a couple more days added on to finish the test would be nice." Bunny Fufu wrote "I was sitting at a desk. I felt tired. I kept trying to stay awake. I kept day dreaming." Sitting was often coupled with descriptions of students being sleepy, daydreaming, or otherwise being very easily distracted. Often this period of sitting and listening to instruction took place over an extended period of time. Physiologically, it appears that people need movement or a frequent change of pace no matter what age they are.
 * 2) **Class size was large or instruction took place in a crowded room.** Large class size (100 or more students) or crowded rooms were mentioned in a number of boring learning experiences. The respondents indicate that crowded rooms or large class size allows more opportunity for losing focus. One respondent, Scientist, recalled " The lecture was held in an auditorium-style room filled with hundreds of students, most of whom were not there my choice and would often choose to chat, text, or dilly-dally on their laptop." This outlook was shared by co girl who said " lecture style to approx 200 people....a bunch of college kids being bored to tears, lots of distraction by them." It would seem that crowded class rooms could lead to discomfort, agitation, and distraction.
 * 3) **Instructor had a monotone voice or was not enthusiastic.** Perhaps the most "popular" response among boring learning experiences described the instructor speaking in monotone. The seemingly hypnotic powers of the monotone voice led several learners to become bored quickly. Soccer mom wrote "the teacher spoke in a monotone voice and never asked the class any questions to make sure we were following along in the lecture or to check for our understanding." This highlights an aspect of my own teaching that I often try to keep in mind. If ever I have to lecture (which happens a lot since I teach history) I always try to break up things by asking questions to random students. At the very least it is essential to break the monotony by calling on students and checking for understanding. Iron Giant said "our instructor was speaking in his monotone voice reading from the manual, not looking up at us. Speaking slowly and pausing every few word, as if to collect his thoughts." That description alone almost put me to sleep.
 * 4) **Instruction was based on lecture and/or PowerPoint.** Perhaps the most alarming trend seen in boring learning experiences was that the use of PowerPoint seemed to pop up a lot (I use PowerPoint a lot in my own history classes). I was somewhat comforted to learn, however, that most boring experiences using lecture of PowerPoint indicated that instructors used PowerPoint as a script and seldom strayed from lecturing on the slide content. Respondent CG wrote of a boring learning experience that took place over an entire semester. " Every lecture consisted of a PowerPoint presentation that the professor would read from verbatim. He didn't even seem like he was interested in what he was saying." Joel R echoes this experience stating " we were in an auditorium and were given copies of the PowerPoint presentation. The speaker then proceeded to go through the slides and lecture. There were a few breaks in monotony at the beginning, but once the presentation began, he just began to go through each slide." The implication here would obviously be, if you are going to use PowerPoint, use it to highlight rather than have it be the sole source of your instructional content.
 * 5) **It was difficult to see or hear the instructor.** This generalization on boring learning experience could have a lot to do with the physical location of the learning during instruction. As stated earlier, large or crowded learning environments were frequently mentioned in descriptions of boring learning events. However, it also appears that the student proximity to the instructor could have a significant impact on how interesting the instruction is. Jake11 wrote " the teacher was telling things about the California coastal regions and difficult to understand she was using word that I did not understand (not in vocabulary yet) was using a map of California and it was hard to see because of the size of the map and I was in the back of the class." Distant or obstructed views would be an obvious obstacle to anyone's learning.
 * 6) **Instruction was conducted during extended time periods without a break.** Teachers are often tasked with conveying their material to the learner within a limited time frame. The pressure to make every minute count is something all instructors face during their careers. However, it would appear that time management and pacing is something that all teacher should consider when planning their instruction. Many of the boring learning experiences included scenarios in which the instruction took place over long periods of time without a break or change of pace. Monotony can rear its ugly head in more than just the instructor's tone of voice. Respondent Carol said "The duration of the class was 4 hours with one 10 minute break which was very long... sitting still for so long and the instructors monotone voice made it difficult to pay attention."
 * 7) **Content was not relevant or interesting to the learner.** Any student, regardless of age often have to take classes on subjects in which they have little or no interest. It is important for the learner to be able to see some practical use of the material that they are learning. Jeff O recalled a recent boring learning experience. He wrote "it had no application to my real world. It did not tell me what I needed to specifically know for the actual course." Heather reinforces this sentiment. She said " I did not relate to the material at all, and the presenter didn't make the material relevant or interesting." Making the material relevant or interesting is a challenge that all instructors face. It is difficult to gauge student interest in any given subject matter. All students come to us with differing interests and needs. This should remind teachers the importance of getting to know their students as quickly as possible in order to gain understanding of their talents and interests.

What Makes Learning Fun?
Common descriptions for fun experiences:
 * 1) **Instruction required movement or performance of some sort.** Movement and performance was one common thread expressed in reviewing fun learning activities. It would seem obvious that people are more alert and attentive if they are engaged in physical activity. Das stated " The instructor made a song with subtraction and students were expected to sing along. The instructor sang out a question and students were expected to sing the answer as a group." This might be particularly strenuous activity, but it required students to think on their toes and perform on the spot. Beth O described another fun learning experience that involved performance. She said " the instructor asked questions randomly, forcing me to stay on my toes and make sure I was absorbing the information. The fact that I had to participate in a presentation also made me more accountable and broke up the time. It was a three hour class, but it felt like 30 minutes." Again, while this activity is not necessarily strenuous, the looming "threat" of a presentation at the end of the activity served several purposes. It made the learner accountable, it provided the motivation through the somewhat nerve-racking anticipation of having to perform, and it helped to break up the time.
 * 2) **Activities allowed opportunities for creative/critical thinking.** The response of Freaky Frog captures the essence of the power of lessons that engage students in critical and creative thinking. She said the following about a French class she took "I was encouraged to be creative. My creativity was rewarded. I retained what I learned. The instructor was passionate about the French language and she easily transferred her enthusiasm to the students." While it was unclear from the survey how the instructor rewarded student creativity, it is clear from this example that when students are granted the liberty to think creatively they take more of a sense of ownership regarding their learning.
 * 3) **There was interaction between instructors and participants or some sort of group activity.** This generalization relates closely to the one regarding movement and performance. Often this type of activity involves interaction among learners themselves or between the learners and their instructor. One particular response by Dancer actually tied in an element of critical thinking when she talked about her fun learning experience. She said "we always discussed ways to apply the teaching to our lives. We have an opportunity to talk and share advice with each other, to critically analyze problems that we're facing, and to try to come up with solutions." According to another account by Pippi, using a variety of group work can also help to make learning fun. Pippi said "She (the instructor) believes in state changes to keep a high level of engagement. We worked with whole group, small group and partners. We watched interesting videos and then discussed. We always left her class with something to take back to our own class." Pippi's story was supplemented by a particularly insightful quote by the instructor "if the bum is numb, the brain is too."
 * 4) **Instructional content was relevant or provided some sort of "real world" applications.** One survey, completed by Mr. Excitement (an appropriate name for a fun learning experience) really jumped out at me as a great example of how activities involving "real world" elements can make learning fun. He said "we constructed hurricane proof houses that we tested using a fan and then a leaf blower. you were given little materials, expected to come up with your own design structure and to explain to a group your selections." This jumped out at me mostly because of its relevance to current events. But the activity involved students having to build something that could be used in the "real world" and defend their choices to group members. Again, it's another example that students tend to be more motivated when they know they are going to be held accountable for their learning.
 * 5) **Instructors told good stories or shared personal experiences related to content.** I found this particular trend in fun learning experiences to be the most interesting. What made this interesting is that several survey results (both fun and boring) mentioned that the instructor would tell stories. However, there was a marked difference in the stories involved with fun learning experiences as opposed to boring ones. Mrs. Bee wrote " we were learning personality types (sanguine, phlegmatic, etc.) and the instructor was telling stories about each kind of personality. He would repeat the same scenario (i.e. a party) and would tell how each of the four personalities would behave in the situation." In this case the story was not only interesting but relevant to the content being taught. Oregonian's story was similar in his description of a history professor talking about World War I. He said " He would share a story and the students would discuss and analyze the facts. It was a very animated, interactive class. I was amazed that learning about a war that happened such a long time ago could be so engaging."
 * 6) **The instructor used humor and was enthusiastic.** There were several great examples of teachers using humor to help make learning fun. Humor is a great way to gain and hold attention. Chiseled Gorgeous talked about a Asian American History professor who used humor in his classes. He recalled "Prof. Tuay was always making jokes. He used humor to grab the attention of the class by trying to understand modern pop culture from an older point of view. I felt I was able to learn in this style because I was able to remember the humor connected to the lesson." Much like the generalization of story telling, if humor is somehow tied into the lesson it can instantly make a learning experience more fun. This really appeals to me because I would like to think that I use humor effectively in my history classes. If you can make a student laugh while teaching them they are more likely to look back on the learning experience as favorable.
 * 7) **Lesson or activities exposed learners to something new.** This generalization is included mostly because, as a history teacher, I find it is often my biggest challenge. How does one make history something "new." Granted, it might be something that a student had not previously known, but typically students who think history is boring think that because it is about things that have already happened. The approach I have always tried to take is to teach students to look at history in a new way. I found similar sentiments in some of the survey responses. For example, Pinky talked about an experience that involved a 3-month excursion. He/she said "there was also a big element of newness to the experience because many of the things we were learning about were not things that mainstream North Americans tended to be thinking about regularly, but we were able to see these ideas in practice on a short walk after the lecture." Here, the trip took students to places they had never been before. But that is not what make the learning new. It was learning a new thought process. New experiences in themselves inherently make learning fun. Aikisan wrote about a night diving class and the "rush" of jumping into the unknown. He/she wrote " this was a new and exciting experience for me. I was going to jump into the dark ocean at night. It was like something out of a novel. It was fun for the rush in gave me, and all the games my mind would play on me."

Implications
The survey results, while insightful, were not very surprising or eye-opening. I was already expecting that fun learning experiences would involve a high degree of physical activity and interaction whereas boring activities will most likely follow a lecture format in a more traditional classroom setting. Perhaps the most important thing this project did for me was to remind me of a few essential things to consider when designing lessons for my classes.
 * Fun activities are usually ones that challenge students to think in new and creative ways.
 * It is also imperative that fun learning experiences be relevant to the learner. That could arguably be the most challenging aspect of lesson design. Teachers have to find the answer to the most thought about (yet many times left unmentioned) question that students have: "Why do we have to know this?"
 * Teachers need to vary the delivery of their material. This continues to be a guiding principle for me when planning my lessons for my tenth graders. Whenever possible, I like to provide a variety of activities (this is especially important if you teach 2-hour block classes).
 * Always try to be enthusiastic about the material. This isn't particularly challenging for me because I love history and I love teaching history. But I realize that many of my students are much more concerned about what is happening hear and now in their own lives. Teaching is often a job of salesmanship. If you're not pumped up about what you're teaching, your students won't be either.